Press Release Article

PORT AUTHORITY PROMOTES RECORD NUMBER OF POLICE OFFICERS
TO LEAD 74-YEAR-OLD FORCE IN POST-SEPTEMBER 11 ERA

Date: Jan 24, 2003Press Release Number: 8-2003

New Supervisors to Bolster Ranks Following Loss of 37 Officers and Commanders On September 11; Will Also Help Department With Additional Security Issues

More than 50 members of the Port Authority Police Department were promoted today – the largest number elevated in rank at one time in the 74-year history of the force – during a ceremony at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Hackensack, N.J.

The 59 new supervisors will help the 1,691-member department bolster its ranks following the tragic loss of 37 of its members on September 11, 2001. They also will help the department address additional security issues that have arisen following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

Port Authority Superintendent of Police Charles D. DeRienzo said, “These men and women will lead us into the future and we feel they will take us on the correct path to provide our customers and employees with the greatest measure of safety. They have demonstrated outstanding skills in their previous roles, and will help us to deal with the challenges we face in the future.”

The newly promoted officers will help strengthen the Port Authority Police Department’s command structure. They will be charged with helping to oversee the department’s efforts to secure the region’s airports, seaports, tunnels, bridges and mass transit facilities.

“This is a critical time for the Port Authority Police Department as we mark the largest number of promotions in the department’s history,” Superintendent DeRienzo said. “It signals a new era in policing at our facilities.”

The new supervisors will help to oversee the members of the highly trained force, which includes more than 450 recruits who graduated from the Port Authority Police Academy last year.

In addition to traditional law enforcement responsibilities, Port Authority Police officers receive extensive training in responding to air crashes, protecting maritime ports, and the use of portable heart defibrillators. They also are schooled in counter terrorism techniques.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey operates some of the busiest and most important transportation links in the region. They include John F. Kennedy International, Newark Liberty International, LaGuardia and Teterboro airports; the George Washington Bridge; the Lincoln and Holland tunnels; the three bridges between Staten Island and New Jersey; the PATH rapid-transit system; the Downtown Manhattan Heliport; Port Newark; the Elizabeth-Port Authority Marine Terminal; the Howland Hook Marine Terminal on Staten Island; the Brooklyn Piers/Red Hook Container Terminal; and the Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan. The agency is financially self-supporting and receives no tax revenue from either state.

Following is a list of members of the Port Authority Police Department who were promoted today:

Inspector Gene Ceccarelli to assistant chiefCapt. John Kassimatis to inspector